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“Barbara,” set in East Germany, details the relationship between Nina Hoss and Ronald Zehrfeld — a Stasi officer.

‘If she were 6, you’d say she’s sulky,” remarks a secret-police officer of the woman he’s spying on — Barbara (Nina Hoss), an East German doctor. She’s a good deal more than sulky, of course: It’s 1980, and Barbara’s been sent down to a rural pediatric hospital as punishment for applying to emigrate to the West. There she meets another doctor, André (Ronald Zehrfeld), to whom she’s drawn despite knowing that he’s been assigned to report on her to East Germany’s feared Stasi — the police.

Director Christian Petzold’s camera can’t seem to get enough of Hoss’ extraordinary face. The actress has the rare ability to make thought visible, as Barbara moves through resentment, fear, dawning attraction to André and, finally, compassion at war with her desperate desire to escape. She’s matched by Zehrfeld, who projects a marvelous range of feelings through his sparse dialogue, as well.

It’s a quiet film built of careful details. The more the characters show their humanity, the more we see the dehumanization of a totalitarian state. Petzold raises questions of honor and builds the romance with an absolutely rigorous lack of sentiment, moving “Barbara” to a sweeping finish as emotionally satisfying as any this year.

In German, with English subtitles. Running time: 105 minutes. Not rated (violence, brief nudity, adult situations). At the Lincoln Plaza and the Angelika.